Celebrating my Father’s 90th Birthday

Grateful for my father

Few people get to live 90 years. Only 4.7% of the United States population live to be 90 years of age or older according to the 2019 US Census Bureau. That is an 1.9 % increase of population since 1980. Even better news in that the US Census Bureau predicts 10% of the adult population may reach the age of 90 by 2050.

Somehow, my Daddy beats the odds. Longevity does run in his family. One of his cousins died last year who was 92 years of age. He has s another cousin who is older than 90 years of age. My Dad says that he never thought he would live this long. The reason for that thought is because he had lifestyle habits that were detrimental to his health. However, he quit a few of them when he was in his fifties. He is active, plants a spring and fall garden yearly, has several animals, and goes hunting.

Daddy has a way with animals. He accumulates them. He has three dogs that I know of, several chickens, and I saw two kittens over the weekend. He had a raccoon that was his aide in teaching dogs how to coon hunt. The raccoon had his own kennel that Daddy would leave open, and the raccoon would leave and return. Daddy is one of those people some people may describe as difficult to love. He says, “I shoot straight from the hip.” If you ask him a question, he is going to answer it bluntly. You better be prepared for the answer. That is why he has animals. Animals give unconditional love.

After animals, his next hobby is hunting. When he was younger, about 10years ago, he enjoyed hunting small game. Now that he cannot walk without his cane, he only deer hunt. He lives on 2 acres of land, a lot of it is dense with trees. He has a deer stand out there. He has to climb up 6 steps into his deer stand. To make it comfortable, he put carpet down, has a heating device, a chair, a sleeping bag, and books. Sometimes, I think he goes out to his deer stand not to hunt but for enjoyment.

Over the weekend we gave him a birthday party. Six of nine children attended. He has 11 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren. That’s a lot of folks. He loves us in his own way. I love him. I accept him for what he is. I know how to talk to him. I can get him to do things he might be resistant to do.